{"id":17805,"date":"2026-07-16T02:17:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=17805"},"modified":"2026-07-16T02:17:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:17:26","slug":"chelsea-eyeing-shock-move-for-former-arsenal-striker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=17805","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea eyeing shock move for former Arsenal striker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/NewsArticle\">\n<!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<h6>News<span> \u00bb <\/span>Premier League news<span> \u00bb <\/span>Chelsea news<\/h6>\n<p class=\"articletimestamp\">July 15, 2026 21:28 GMT (UK), by <!-- Author Start -->Sri Aswin<!-- Author End -->\n<\/p>\n<h6>View Chelsea summer 2026 transfer targets<\/h6>\n<div style=\"float:right\">\n<figure>\n<p class=\"article_image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eyefootball.com\/imghold\/largestFolarinBalogun_USA_2026.jpg\" title=\"Folarin Balogun news\" alt=\"Folarin Balogun news\" itemprop=\"image\"\/><\/p><figcaption><em itemprop=\"articleSection\">Balogun to Chelsea?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span itemprop=\"articleBody\"><br \/>\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-size:16px\">\n<strong>Chelsea are weighing up a surprise move for former Arsenal striker <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Folarin Balogun<\/span><\/span>according to Football Transfers.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- responsive_ad --><\/p>\n<p>The Blues currently have <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Jo\u00e3o Pedro<\/span><\/span>, <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Liam Delap<\/span><\/span>, <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Nicolas Jackson<\/span><\/span>  and <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Marco Guiu<\/span><\/span>  as their centre-forward options.<\/p>\n<p>Guiu is expected to leave in the coming weeks, and there is also speculation over the futures of Jackson and Delap.<\/p>\n<p>Both strikers will be analysed by new manager <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Xabi Alonso<\/span><\/span>  in pre-season, and one of them could be shown the exit door.<\/p>\n<p>Amidst this, it is claimed that the Blues are weighing up an approach for Balogun, who has fared brilliantly at Monaco.<\/p>\n<p>Balogun netted 19 goals in all competitions for the Ligue 1 side last term and went on to star for the USA at the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Monaco are braced for offers for the former Arsenal graduate and could be prepared to sanction his departure for\u00a0\u00a343 million.<\/p>\n<p>Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham Hotspur have also been linked with Balogun, who prefers a return to the Premier League.<br \/><!-- Article End --><\/p>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <!-- newadv --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {\nvar js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0);\nif (d.getElementById(id)) return;\njs = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\njs.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\";\nfjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News \u00bb Premier League news \u00bb Chelsea news July 15, 2026 21:28 GMT (UK), by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}